Ignotus' Year
by Hannah the Scribe
Summary: With his brothers at Hogwarts, Ignotus Peverell finds himself rather alone on his last New Year's before he starts school. (For the Catapults.)


**Author's Note: For the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, Season Two/Round Eleven, as Captain for the Caerphilly Catapults, writing about January 1st, 1225. Also, for the If You Dare Challenge, prompt 173. A Traveller's Tale. About the youngest of the "Deathly Hallows" brothers, the owner of the Cloak of Invisibility.**

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_Ignotus' Year_

_(With his brothers at Hogwarts, Ignotus Peverell finds himself rather alone on his last New Year's before he starts school.)_

* * *

Ignotus sat on the ground of the room he shared with his brother, Cadmus, and poked through the pile of his brother's old school books. Cadmus would rarely look back at them, but Ignotus was fascinated. And Cadmus wasn't there to tell him not to read his books, so….

Halfway down the pile, he found a Care of Magical Creatures book, and pulled it out, blowing some dust off the cover. He opened it, and his eyes ran down the table of contents, scanning for anything of particular interest. He came across _Demiguises _and opened to the page listed to read about the invisible-turning creatures, but had just barely started when his mother called—

"Ignotus! What are you doing inside on the first day of the year? Go out and play with your friends!"

He sighed. He couldn't read outside with the snow, and he didn't really _have_ friends. They were all Antioch's or Cadmus'.

But he didn't argue with his mother. "All right!" he called back, and replaced the book, then went out of the cottage and into their front yard.

Not sure what to do, he simply started walking, which was what he usually did when his mother told him to play outside. He walked down their row of homes—all other cottages—then down towards the new church.

It would be the last time for several years that he would see Godric's Hollow on New Year's—soon he'd be off to Hogwarts. Cadmus and Antioch always stayed at Hogwarts for the holidays, and while Ignotus loved his family, he also loved school—even if he was homeschooled for now—and he'd probably want to stay there for the holidays, as well. He could write letters to Mother, unlike how his brothers never did.

Playing in the snow around him were some of the Hogwarts-aged children who _did_ come home for the holidays—and they were seeing how much magic they could get away with using, charming snowballs to fly at each other.

Ignotus couldn't wait to get a wand of his own, but he wanted to use it for better things than snowball fights, like summoning textbooks from his bed—

"Oomph!" A snowball hit him hard right in the stomach, cold and wet. The other children laughed, and they were all just _looking_ at him, and a few were getting ready to aim more snowballs…. His embarrassment was boiling over when the laughter stopped and turned to cries of:

"Where's he gone?"

_What?_ thought Ignotus, because he hadn't _gone_ anywhere, much as he'd have liked to. He looked down instinctively, and realized: he wasn't there. He had… disappeared. He'd turned _invisible._

_Another burst of magic! _he thought excitedly, and while it lasted, he ran in the other direction, down the street, around the corner, and down the other lane, almost skipping with his excitement.

He looked down again, out of breath, and saw that he had returned. The other children, if they wanted to follow him, could see his footprints, so he started to smooth them out behind him as he weaved around buildings to lose them.

He was still very excited about the show of his magic, and thought that Mother would be proud of him, but, it seemed pretentious to run off and tell her…. (His brothers had always run to tell both of their parents about those incidents).

Perhaps he would be naturally better at magic than he thought. And this would be his year. Yes, this would be his year.

He knew he probably hadn't been outside that long, but he longed to be back at home, by the fire where Mother was surely preparing some stew that would be dinner with bread. He missed the fresh food of summer, though that was one of the only things he liked about the season….

Ignotus headed back towards their cottage, and arrived there soon enough, the indoors seeming dark compared to the white of the snow covering everything outside. It was a beautiful sight, but….

"How was your walk?" his mother asked him knowingly, and he said that it was fine, and they got to talking as he sat near the fire to dry off and warm up.

Their conversation turned to what would happen in the New Year, and of course that meant Hogwarts.

"What House do you think I'll be in, Mother?" asked Ignotus. It was the first time he'd asked since he was much littler.

"You?" his mother echoed. "And your books? Ravenclaw, surely."

Ignotus simply nodded. Though they lived in Godric's Hollow, he never thought he'd be a Gryffindor. Ravenclaw, that he could see—he hoped he lived up to the name.

The year would bring a lot of things, a lot of _new_ things, and he hoped that he (and his books) were up to it. Mother thought he was, and usually that was a guarantee.

Yes, the New Year was a little bit daunting and a little bit scary—and that was why he'd never be a Gryffindor—but it was full of new chances, and Ignotus wanted to take all of them.

**END**


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